Thoughts on starcraft mentality, anxiety and simil

Bulgarian Terran player - ArchangeL...I am a casual player going towards streaming starcraft. I gave up on the idea of becoming a pro due to lack of skills and not wanting to invest insane amount of time developing them. Was my decision and I still respect those who made it there. Though going through this journey these several years (started playing SC2 in early 2013) I learnt a lot about myself.

What I want to focus on this article is the mentality and how player's Ego is being boosted and then smashed back in starcraft. We all play this game pretty well and know this but I think too few truly understand it on consciouss level. Experiencing a winning streak during ladder can boost up your confidence as well as your ego an incredible amount. The next ladder session though when you experience the losing streak your ego is getting hit and hit harder and harder after each loss in row. Your MMR and your ego just got boosted yesterday and now it is at an even at lower state than it was before the winning streak occured. Here's the moment you could look at this at a higher perspective. In the end of the day those were just ladder games and meaningless points unless YOU put value in them.

For someone who is not a gamer or doesn't know starcraft MMR is just 4 numbers and that's all. For a Starcraft player they can estimate the overall skill of the player for this current moment. Is it 100% correct? Definitely not. Should you be too scared of losing? Absolutely not. A loss is more valuable than a win because it shows you where you need to put more effort and attention in that part of the game if you want to improve. A losing streak is nothing more than just showing you a lot of mistakes that the opponent is abusing so you gotta fix them. What happens when you forget about that fact though and feel only your ego being hit hard? you feel pain and fear you don't wanna experience this again because it hurts... but it hurts your ego. And Ego has a very little place in starcraft and your journey in becoming a skillful player. A lot of progamers actually seem too modest, right?

Look at Serral, Neeb (those immediately come to my mind but most of the very successful progamers have it to some degree more or less) Koreans most of the time say they win because of luck. It is partly true that to win more things have to go your way in stead of your opponents way. Maybe that's the meaning they put in the word "luck" but also with that statement and mindset they are keeping their "ego in ckeck" that's how I like to call keeping your ego in that place where its not harming you and your future success.

Those few masterful competitors are most of the players we see in tournaments and are the so called pro gamers. Those guys who actually made it there, aquired all the skills that you have to have + the right mentality. Being angry frustrated after a game is fine means you are passionate about it and wanted the win so much. At the end of the day though a loss is way more valuable to a player than the win because you can learn a lot more from it. A loss basically means you made an error during your play and the opponent caught it and abused it. Consciously or subconsciously he is helping you fix your gameplay. On the otherside of the spectrum when you win you are consciously or subconsciously helping your opponent to fix their mistakes.That's the fundamental part of any multiplayer game or game with 2 or more people. THATS IT. Mocking your opponents, BMing and all similar stuff show that you lack respect towards other human beings but also towards yourself because you don't understand the fundamentals of this experience and you are in an infinite loop.

To be successful and on the top you'll have to lower your ego and put it in check. That's a pretty hard thing at first but its possible. Some can achieve it easily others have to work pretty hard. I believe I am in the middle. A lot of viewers of big tournament are probably wondering why isn't the champion showing insane emotions after just winning a major championship. Though they don't realise that's one of the qualities you have to aquire during your mental training as a sc2 pro. Less emotions means better and more solid overall performance especially in an extremely fast paced game such as starcraft. One needs time to regain their emotional human state after competition.This are my thoughts on a small piece of the puzzle.

I understand that this information might not be entirely correct to everyone reading this.

I felt the urge to write this down and share it, nonetheless. I am curious with how many people this article may actually resonate.

If you want you can find me on my stream twitch.tv/sc2archangelAnyways thanks for the time!ArchangeL OUT!

Nice blog, I enjoyed the content inside of what you wrote, although you really need to work on sentence structuring and grammar, you need to split this into several different paragraphs, and it would make it a little less like deciphering egyptian hieroglyphics.

Nice blog and I agree with your point. In my opinion even more important than keeping your ego in check and trying to improve is passion for the game and insane work ethic. Isn't there pro players who destroy their keyboards out of frustration, but in the end they never stop laddering.

CharoisaurIt definitely seems true at first but then you see how both IdrA and Naniwa's careers ended. Idra even said it himself that leaving starcraft was better for his mental health. I watched an interview from several years ago and he seems a lot more mature and calm.In addition, IdrA's big ego made him leave games in which he was clearly in a better position. Even though, those players do have big egoes I don't think ego is the reason they are successful. Its more due to the other qualities they had perfected. One of which is the insane work they put in in their practice sessions.

Weavel, What is more important is still subective to person from person. I agree that work ethic is part of the success for sure.

Keeping your ego in check is just one of the aspects of becoming a pro I feel.

About the passion i wouldn't agree though. Passion comes and goes. It is just the spark that introduces you to that one "craft" you might later on enjoy or hate.Imagine a casual player who has the passion for the game then experience a losing streak. Would he still have that passion then or it would be transformed into a frustration.

A lot of progamers have lost their passion for the game. They keep playing because it has become their job and are able to make a living out of it. In my opinion it is better than 9/5 jobs so if they have to choose they would still prefer starcraft 2 but not because of the passion they once had.

Passion is part of the journey but it is very volatile so you shouldn't really rely on it. When you experience passion it fills you with energy really quickly but it can go away that quickly as well.

I can tell you from experience that I tried to revive that passion time and time again. That I thought it "had" the power to keep me going towards becoming a pro. It just made me more frustrated than it helped. I had to find other reasons to continue playing right now it is streaming sc and interacting with the viewers.